Xardion Reborn 01: Proteus
by mangoicecream
Summary: There's something Big underwater...


"Your first mission will take place in the secret underwater base, _Proteus_."

The briefing room was lit with dozens of monitor screens, displaying from various angles the base's exterior, as well as different schematics of its interior. It was a grand facility that brought together the most advanced technologies of Aquata and combined it all into a giant mobile platform capable of sustaining about three to four thousand people, including the crew. It was supposed to be a symbol of pride for the Aquatan scientists; however, the surveillance footage revealed that this once-magnificent base was now severely damaged and in ruin. It sat dark and silent in the black, icy depths of one of Aquata's deepest oceans, the Aegea.

"_Proteus…_" Triton had heard a little about this base, even though most of it was hushed speculation tossed around in passing. Back during the interplanetary civil wars, the higher ups of Aquata definitely did not want any sensitive information being leaked about this base. Many of its secrets were probably still safe up to the present… until the alien invaders had come.

Triton crossed his arms, and rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Seems like someone's banged up the place."

"It was recently attacked by the alien forces," the general answered. The captain snorted, a short, curt laugh.

"So much for being '_secret_.'" Ignoring him, the general continued.

"_Proteus_ was meant to hide in the depths to focus on research and mining, but unfortunately, it was discovered by enemy scout forces. The crew panicked and quickly eliminated them, but this turned out to be a disastrous mistake: The enemy's main forces quickly found them, and immediately lay siege to the base. Their defenses didn't even last half a day." Triton narrowed his eyes, unimpressed.

"Well General, I've heard all the rumors, and apparently, we have at least a dozen other of these bases hiding around in the oceans, so why is this one so important? Don't tell me that 'research and mining' is such a big deal that it needs to be kept so secret..."

"I'm getting to that, Triton. This particular base was tasked with a crucial experiment. The data disk that contains its results is still somewhere in the base, and must be retrieved."

"Would you mind telling me what this 'crucial' experiment was about?"

"We don't have all the information regarding the matter right now, but it concerned a discovery of an ancient artifact that may turn the tide of the war in our favor."

"You're risking our lives for some 'artifact?' Typical of the our government to relocate precious resources for these wasteful experiments…"

"Triton, I understand your doubts regarding the background situation, but either way, that data is critical. Many of our most brilliant minds sacrificed their lives to work on this, and I will not tolerate you undermining their work." Triton chuckled and raised his hands slightly in a half-gesture of mock surrender.

"Alright, General, I apologize for that last bit." He took a step back and crossed his arms again. "So, is that all we need to do? Grab the data disk from the base?"

"That's the main objective; however, there are some other things I'd like you to investigate," the general continued. "Approximately 15 hours ago, we received a distress signal from the deepest sections of the base, shielded from even our sensors. We initially believed all personnel within the base were eliminated, but apparently we are wrong: There may be one or more survivors." Alcedes, who had been impatiently listening to the conversation between Triton and the general spoke up.

"Just curious, but is it someone I know?" Alcedes asked. The grizzled soldier tilted his head, thrown off by the Fieran girl's seemingly random question.

"What kind of question is _that_, little girl?"

"Actually, that's a very important question," the general stopped Triton. "The call was made by Dr. Marion Julius, one of the leading engineers of our material science department, and also an accomplished architect, who helped design our bases. He knew the ins and outs of Proteus better than anybody; quite frankly, he's also a high-profile researcher."

"Alright, so if we see him, we get him out," Triton replied. He added with sarcastically softness in his voice, "Anything else you'd like for us to do?"

"Yes," the general replied. "We'd like you to recover the base itself."

"Hmm." Triton gazed at the monitor screen displaying the status of Proteus. "It seems little too trashed to be worth the recovery,"

"Under normal circumstances, I would agree, Triton," the general sighed. "However, with the state we're in, every machine and piece of equipment that can be salvaged, should be."

"Alright. So, how do we do that?"

"Find your way into the core of the base and reactivate its nova core. Then you can initialize its emergency protocols, and the station should automatically start rising to the surface. If we're lucky, we'll at least be able to reclaim the core."

"Shame," Triton smirked. "I wanted to blast my way through the enemy once I got down there."

"Your COG's should have the firepower to sustain you for the duration of the mission, but none of us are sure of exactly how many enemy troops are inside, or in the vicinity, until you get down there. If I were you, I would not risk a frontal assault unless it is absolutely necessary."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I can't promise you that my trigger fingers might stay still if I see one of them."

At the general's command, Triton, Alcedes, and Panthera were launched into the planet of Aquata. A hypersonic rocket containing the three COG's penetrated through the cloudy atmosphere and dove into the sea. The projectile flew by so quickly that even the battlecruiser that launched it lost sight of the rocket for a brief second. Once safely underwater, the rocket casings came off with a hiss and stream of bubbles, and the three machines, folded into storage mode with some type of mechanical harness around them, continued their journey downward into the depths.

"Pretty…"

Alcedes pressed her small hands on the glass of her cockpit as she admired the view of the ocean. The clear blue waters full of marine life reflected the sunlight from the above, and captivated her. However, within just a few minutes, the beautiful scenery full of life vanished. As the rocket sunk down, there were hardly any signs of life, let alone light, in sight.

"Hmph, it's so dark down here," the girl grumbled, disappointed at just how short her sightseeing was. "I can't see any more fish…"

"Well, it wouldn't have made much sense for the fortress to be in a spot that was visible from the surface, would it?" Triton's voice came in through the comm system loud and clear. "We're not here to visit an aquarium, kiddo."

"Phooey…"

At almost maximum dive depth, the three pilots ejected from their harnesses and turned on their searchlights. Despite the lack of sunlight to help them see, the luminescent metal of the underwater base, Proteus, illuminated the area; in fact, its luminescence was enough so that they could have practically navigated the vicinity without their flashlights.

"What… the _hell_?"

Triton slowly examined the exterior of the fortress. The soldier had expected the base to have bullet holes or signs of acidic attacks, but instead found a giant slash mark carved straight across, deep into its surface.

"What kind of monster could do this?"

[It does not seem like anything we have in the database could have been large enough to cause this damage]

Panthera was replying Triton through an onscreen text message.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious."

[Keep your eyes open at all times.]

"I'm going to deploy the scanner drones," Alcedes stepped forward with her gearframe.

"_Scanner drones launched_." The red COG spoke. "_Scan will be completed in 20 seconds. Please standby for results."_

Dozens of small machines about the size of pebbles launched from the antenna of Alcedes' COG. Scattering throughout the area, these robots seeped into this newly-made entrance of the underwater base. Quickly firing their sensors from one section to another, the drones transmitted all kinds of information to Alcedes; image-maps of the area, composition materials of the base, and listings of the possible cause for the damage. Working simultaneously with the scanner drones, Alcedes skimmed their analysis in an attempt to both secure the area as well as draw her own conjectures of what kind of creature awaited for them deep inside Proteus.

The same data was displayed for Triton and Panthera as well, but the captain was a little overwhelmed by the amount of information to give a thorough look.

"We're just wasting time," Triton grumbled as he reclined on his seat.

[It can be quite useful to know what we're dealing with, Captain.]

"Normally," the captain agreed, "but we're currently at the perimeter of a red zone. How do we know that we're not being watched while we're sitting around like this?"

When the agent of Zikar did not respond, Triton took out a cigar from his pocket and smoked. His eyes ventured left and right, following the scanner drones. Normally, the machines would've been too fast for human beings to easily spot, but the Aquatan captain was quite sharp- even for a veteran warrior. He was on his toes at all times during deployment. It was a blessing on the battlefield which made him an excellent fighter, but at the same time, it was a curse that often made him impulsive and restless.

Growing impatient, he turned his attention to Alcedes, who was still concentrating on reading the information retrieved from the scanner drones.

"Hurry up over there, little girl."

"They're almost done," Alcedes replied calmly.

"We better get our asses moving if we want to get back to base in time for dinner."

"What's on the menu?" The girl's voice rose slightly, rather excited to talk about food.

"Steamed lobster and fried squid," Triton growled, scoffing.

"Eww..." She winced at Triton's response.

"Hey, those are delicacies on Aquata," the captain feigned displeasure at the girl's reaction. "And besides, a growing twerp like you could seriously use protein from all that seafood."

Just then, the scanner drones flashed red, signaling an alarm to all the pilots.

_Alert! Detection of a titan-class mechanical life form!_

"What the heck is-"

Suddenly, the ocean floor trembled violently as a set of massive, insect-like arms extended toward them, the twin pairs of probing claws adorning each arm pushing aside the flashing probes, reaching for the nearest object - Alcedes' red machine. Paralyzed by the sudden appearance of this alien creature, the girl was unable to maneuver her gearframe out of the way. As the creature's mottled green and brown arms opened hungrily toward her, Panthera's four-legged machine burst forward. Even under the high pressure of the deep ocean, the golden COG lunged forward like a predatory beast at an incredible speed. The winged rocket boosters on its back and hind legs ignited, propelling Panthera forward even faster in a dazzling display of fiery flashes of light and violently bubbling, roiling water. The four-legged machine slammed into Alcedes' red gearframe in the nick of time; unfortunately, the creature's claws closed in around Panthera

"It's got Panthera!"

Triton raised his white machine's weapon, and aimed at the creature's massive arm. It was then that, staring at this scene and reacting automatically to it to assist his ally, the realization hit him: this was just a single part of a much larger, monstrous creature.

From the massive crevice of the damaged husk of the ocean base's outer hull, another arm lunged out. Swinging past Triton's white COG, it crashed into the ground, creating a small crater that kicked up sand and dust into the surrounding water as it pulled the rest of its body forward, out of the hole. Behind these two strong crustacean-like arms, a body hundreds times their size came into view. The creature was a biomechanical nightmare, its body shaped roughly like a massive scorpion's, covered in segmented metal plating of dark reds and blues, protruding with menacing limbs, spines, and mechanical tubing. In a microsecond, Triton's training kicked in. His machine's onboard sensors immediately noted that the armor was likely infused into the being by some alien technology, and would be impenetrable to standard-caliber weapons fire. Despite the fear, the jaded warrior was suddenly alive, like old times, even excited. As his eyes darted over the massive creature's body, looking for an exposed area of softer tissue where his weapons would prove more effective, he felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through his body. _Hell yeah! THIS is what I'm here for! _Meanwhile, Alcedes was far less excited. Her red machine paused for a brief moment, on its back from having been pushed aside, limbs splayed out. 

"ALCEDES! MOVE!" The red machine did not appear to respond. They finally noticed: Between its two monstrous arms, the creature had a giant fleshy orb about half the size of one of their machines - almost thirty feet wide. Layers of soft, pink flesh had peeled open and were displaying a huge green eye. Darting left and right, the monster slowly came to concentrate its vision at Panthera trapped between its claws. Panthera instantly shut off all of the quadruped's flashlights as the eye of the beast looked straight at it and tried to focus.

"Blast it!" Triton fired his weapon as soon as he spotted the gargantuan eye. The monster, still in the middle of its digging motion, was thrown off. Its movements changed from its original intended trajectory, and its arms flailed powerfully like tentacles. The rampaging limbs shook the nearby ocean floor on impact;as they did so, the claws loosened and dropped Panthera. Underneath its eye, a giant mouth peeled open and revealed a gigantic maw full of serrated teeth and mandibles. The creature roared thunderously as it thrashed around from Triton's attack. However, it quickly regained its balance and dug into the ground, slithering into the hole like a snake despite the massiveness of its form, and completely disappeared from their vision.

Though the entire event had taken less than several seconds, Alcedes had remained frozen for the entirety of it.

"That..." The girl fumbled with her words as she tried to giggle, but choked. "That wasn't too bad."

"'_Wasn't too bad'?!_ You can't just freeze like that, kid! You'll get us all killed!" At his loud berating, Alcedes' nervous grin turned into a frown, and tears began to form at the edge of her eyes. She bit her lip and fought them down. He was right. This was not a game. Despite her large breadth of skills, she was a warrior of her people, and, like in past missions on Fiera, she now had this mission to accomplish.

Meanwhile, Triton continued to yell. "Alright, so just what the hell was that thing?!"

[Uncertain, but it is likely that there is only one of these creatures roaming about.]

"Whether there's one or a dozen of these bastards, we're going after it right now!"

[Negative, Captain.]

"What was that?" Triton was thrown off by Panthera's words. He had expected his unit to support him without question on his decision, but that wasn't going to be the case. "Well, why?"

[Multiple reasons: First, the creature did not seem to recognize us as a threat. When it opened its mouth, I noticed fragments of underwater minerals between its teeth. I conclude that it was simply mining for minerals, not attacking us.]

A disgruntled silence was Panthera's only response, so the agent of Zikar continued.

[Second, destroying this creature is not our primary objective - we were tasked with retrieving the data disk. Considering its speed and ability to easily dig through the ground, chasing it will prove to be a great waste of time.]

Triton glowered at the agent's quadruped machine from his viewing screen. The analysis was logical, but he was too filled with battle-rage to process the information in the moment. "I'm the Captain here, and we'll do as I say!"

[Yes, you are our Captain, but you must remember our objectives.] Triton thought he could detect a small amount of strain behind the digitally-displayed words, but in the heat of the moment disregarded it. He pressed on.

"We need to take that thing out right now, before it tries to kill us again, or find any more bases to destroy!"

[We have been ordered to avoid frontal assaults. Confronting that creature again may lead to contact with the invasion force occupying this planet. _Your _planet. At this moment, we are _not_ prepared for that level of conflict.]

"You think I give a _damn_ about those little minions? I've taken countless numbers of them out, and-"

[Then you should be aware that even the combined might of our worlds are barely surviving against their main forces. This is no time for personal heroics, Captain.]

"… You little-" Panthera's next words shot across the screen, cutting him off.

[Since you and I cannot agree on the next course of action, I propose that we leave this decision up to Alcedes.] It was, in fact, hardly a proposal at all.

"M-Me?!" Suddenly thrust into the argument, the girl's heart jumped at the mention of her name.

Triton was incensed with Panthera's conclusion, but even so, quickly reminded himself that they were a unit. Even if it meant sacrificing what he thought was the right course of action, as the veteran warrior, he knew that they needed to move and work as a team, or they would not survive. Considering the current circumstances, that they faced an enemy they had only _thought_ they knew, he remained silent to hear what the little girl had to say.

"I-I don't know…"

The girl glanced back and forth. The mock confidence she displayed just a few minutes ago crumbled. It wasn't entirely from the monster; she had seen even more exotic creatures in the past; in fact, if anything, she was somewhat fascinated by it and eager to learn more about it. The uncertainty came from the fact that she now had to make a decision that influenced the course of the mission. Unable to organize her thoughts, Alcedes paused.

Irritated, Triton broke the silence. "What's the big delay? This isn't a hard decision." Feeling bullied, Alcedes' feelings started welling up again.

"… I…"

"Well?" Alcedes swallowed her emotions and trapped them in the depths of her mind, forcibly engaging the rational part of her mind, whose logical ability had been the pride and joy of many of her people back home on the desert planet. Her next words were controlled. Balanced. Calm. And, Triton noted, remarkably mature.

"It wouldn't be wise to go after it," she said. "Our sensors lose track of it when it burrows into the ocean floor. We'll be wasting time to find it, and could run into a trap. At worst, not only will we not destroy it, but we will be left unable to accomplish our current mission."

Triton heaved a sigh. He was disappointed, but Alcedes' level-headed response had calmed him down. A small shred of him buried deep, deep down, appreciated her input. He chuckled as he deflected his true feelings. "Heh. So much for letting me be the captain…"

"Perhaps," Alcedes continued, "we do need a change of plans." "We should investigate Dr. Julius' distress call first."

[Negative.]

Now it was Alcedes' turn to be surprised. "What? Why?"

[It is now more probable that he has been terminated, or has been rendered unable to assist us.] Alcedes' brows furrowed. Even though Dr. Julius was not from either of their worlds, it didn't feel right that a person who could still be living and breathing at that very moment would be written off as dead. She pressed harder at the agent of Zikar.

"But how do you know that? Don't you think we should at least find out if he's alive or not?"

[The presence of this new creature changes our situation. If we are not quick to fulfill our main objective, then we risk letting that creature fully destroy the base, trapping us in the process. In that case, we would fail to accomplish any of our objectives.]

Triton sighed. "True..." Alcedes couldn't believe her ears. _They're agreeing with each other? I can't believe this..._

"But maybe we should take that risk," the grizzled soldier finished.

"Hm?" Suddenly, the girl's face brightened. In the quadruped machine, Panthera's head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

[Explain, Captain.]

"So, they said that this Dr. Jules was one of the engineers who helped design the base, right? If we do find him, then he'll definitely help us save time in accomplishing our other objectives."

[This is a considerable gamble.]

"It's a gamble either way," Triton replied. "But, in the end, we're here to fulfill all the objectives of this mission, not the bare minimum."

[Almost 17 hours have passed since we received his distress call. What are the chances of him surviving the attack on the base and remaining conscious for so long?]

"We've talked long enough," Triton responded flatly. "That monster changes things. We're finding the damn scientist first, and that's final."

[… As you wish, Captain.]

"Heh, so you're listening to me now?" The captain chuckled.

[Like you said, it is a gamble either way. I cannot disagree with that.]

"You're a strange one, Panthera." Turning his attention to the base, Triton moved his gearframe through the crevice-shaped hole and into the base.

"Alright, little girl, where did his distress call come from?" Triton asked.

Triton looked at the 3D map of _Proteus_ on his monitor, but due to the extensive damage done to the base, he was unable to identify his own location. Most of its corridors and pipelines had been destroyed, or had disappeared altogether.

"Alright, since we're here…" the girl mumbled to herself as she figured out the next move. "I'm thinking Dr. Julius is hiding either here, or here." On Triton and Panthera's displays, two small, red crosshairs formed over the map of the base, with accompanying tactical information.

"Hm, the _purgatorium_ makes sense. But care to explain why you included the materials research labs?"

"Wait. 'Purgatorium'?"

"Oh, right. A... safe area. A highly-secured room or section of a base where the crew can retreat into during an high-level emergency, and wait for rescue."

"Well, those two areas are located in the inner-most sections of the base. If the outlying sections have already been breached and damaged or destroyed, It'd make sense that the best place to survive in would be those where water hasn't flooded. An invading force usually takes out the armory and hangar bays during first contact with the enemy, and in this case these two areas are located far enough away to be ignored."

"True enough." Triton stroked his beard as he leaned back into his seat. "Time to play the guessing game…" After thinking for a moment, Triton gave his answer. "Let's head for the research lab."

"You don't think Dr. Julius is in the purgatorium?"

"The alien forces are clever hunters and a place like a purgatorium, despite how fortified it is, would've been broken into eventually. I don't think our enemy strategizes like we would. From what we've seen of them, even before our encounter with that crazy arms creature, they're almost more… animal-like. If our scientist had any decent knowledge about our enemy, he'd definitely choose to hide himself in the lab over the purgatorium."

Finding Triton's explanation fairly convincing, the three pilots entered, and made their way through the corridors of the underwater base. Panthera led the group, silent paving the way. Despite the fact that this place had been invaded a day ago, there were hardly any signs of the enemy. The alien forces had struck quickly and departed just as swiftly. The aliens and their planet which had entered the Alpha-1 system space were diverse, unfathomable, and brutal. In Aquata which was mostly covered in ocean, they came in forms of sea creatures such as sharks and jellyfish, but augmented with metallic layers. Triton first believed that they were robots controlled by someone, perhaps secretly by the wily Fierans, but he soon realized that they were organic entities that had somehow mutated beyond what was naturally possible. Their reinforced bodies combined with animal instincts made NGC forces unpredictable in combat. Panthera stopped moving.

[Halt.]

"You see something?" Triton asked.

[Enemy forces.]

The agent of Zikar shared an image to the other pilot's screens. Faint flashes of white light seemed to glow at the end of the hallway.

"Enemy forces?" Alcedes placed her hands on her monitor and quickly magnified the image. There was a swarm of luminescent creatures shaped like jellyfish, floating at the end of the corridor. Despite their organic appearance, their mushroom-shaped upper halves were covered in segmented plates of blue-purple metal. They seemed to send signals to one another by lighting up different parts of their body, as they drifted throughout the area.

"Alright, those bastards are going down." Triton's gearframe loaded its rifle and took aim. Panthera messaged immediately, the text scrolling urgently across the display screen.

[_Negative_. Destroying them will uncover our position.]

Triton hissed. "We're bound to fight them at one point or another. We might as well reduce their numbers now, while we have the opportunity."

Just then, the ground quaked beneath them. A bellowing roar thundered through the base, throwing everyone into disarray. The three pilots held on tightly as their surroundings trembled. By the time Triton had regained composure, the jellyfish aliens had drifted away. He snorted scornfully.

"They won't be so lucky next time."

Moving along, the three pilots successfully reached _Proteus'_ science lab . It was a dome located at the center of the base, and it hadn't been flooded or crushed by pressure. After passing through the pressure locks, they found themselves in a glass-coated room free of water and full of fresh air. Most of the equipment and machinery inside had been toppled and ruined by the quakes, but the facility as a whole was relatively undamaged.

"Fresh air!" Alcedes opened the cockpit of her gearframe and, climbing out onto its shoulder, stretched her arms in delight. Triton also opened the cockpit hatch of his gearframe, but took some time to observe his surroundings. Within seconds he was back inside the white machine. "This is a good sign. The fact that there are still spots that haven't flooded or caved in from the ocean pressure must mean that there's a chance that our scientist survived."

[That is, if he has chosen to hide here.]

"Correct," Triton replied. "This place looks intact for now, but it could possibly fall apart with just another tremor or two."

[If we are to look for the researcher, we must be quick about it.]

"You're right. You and the kid stay put while I-" When the soldier turned around, Alcedes had already hopped off her machine and was exploring the desolate lab on her own. Sighing, Triton quickly changed his mind. "… On second thought, I guess the kid can tag along."

"Oh my goodness!" Alcedes had wandered about a little before Triton caught up to her. She was up against a large, landscape-oriented display window, looking into the massive space beyond. "That's the oxygen purifier, and that's the atmospheric generator…" Fascinated by the colossal machines in action, Alcedes brought her hand to chest level and looked down at the digital displays issuing from it, murmuring to herself as she took notes.

Triton was not pleased. "What do you think you're doing?" he raised his voice at her. "We're here on a mission!"

"But look at all of these!" Alcedes pointed at the machines one by one, like an excited child at the zoo. "Oh! And that one's the photon manipulator which controls the-" Suddenly, a small bite of pain burst on her forehead as Triton smacked the girl with his fingers. Her eyes darted to focus on him, frowning with confusion.

"Ow!"

"Listen up." Triton bent over slightly, to look straight into her eyes. His next words were calm. Too calm. "We aren't here to visit a playpark, got that?"

"… Uh huh."

"We got plenty of this stuff on the General's battlecruiser. Hell, I'll take you on a tour of the whole ship myself if I have to, but until then, we need you to quiet down and focus on the mission, alright?"

"Okay," Alcedes replied, slowly nodding her head. Triton stood up fully, and the two of them resumed staring out through the large window.

"We don't know how much time we have. It's unbelievable that this place hasn't already been torn apart from the tremors." Alcedes gave a couple curt nods.

"Well, I confirmed that the distress signal we got 19 hours ago was from this area." Now it was Triton's turn to nod.

"Alright, then. Let's get moving."

Their red and white machines stood silently at the other end of the massive chamber, like two enormous, majestic statues, watching them as they turned around to head back toward a human-sized entry hatch. Their onboard computers hummed almost imperceptibly as they observed this interaction between their pilots. Somewhere deep within their data processing banks, the synchronization level of each pilot inched upward ever so slightly.

Following Alcedes' lead, Triton trekked through the messy research facility, while Panthera's quadruped gearframe stood watch back where they had left theirs. Despite being just a small part of the underwater base, the laboratory was still large - the interior space was over five stories tall, and covered a significant area. The soldier noted that it would've been impossible to find a lone survivor without any help, considering the uncertain amount of time they had. Luckily, Alcedes seemed to have an idea of where to go, using the sensor systems on her hand to navigate through the wreckage. After a long while of climbing stairs and passing empty corridors in various states of messiness, the two pilots passed by the open door of a small side room. Glancing inside, they found it to be possibly a lounge of some kind, nearly, except for some furniture and a single table on which lay piles of documents, and what seemed to be the remains of a custom-made radio. Alcedes stopped. "He was here." Triton looked around, shuffling through the papers, then shifting the overturned furniture, looking for clues.

"Hmm, but he's not here anymore."

"Hey mister," Alcedes spoke up suddenly. "Did you really mean it when you said you'd give me a tour of the battlecruiser?"

Triton ignored her, and continued to move around the room. Slightly annoyed by his lack of response, the Fieran repeated her question. "Well, did you?"

"Don't push it, kid," was his only reply. Alcedes was dissatisfied. Undaunted, she pressed on.

"Were you lying?"

"Listen," the soldier snapped. Then he sighed. "First, let's concentrate on finding this guy, alright?" Alcedes grumbled. "Then promise me!" Triton arched an eyebrow at her.

"Huh, what?"

"Promise me that you'll do what you said."

The soldier stared at the young girl, annoyed and dumbfounded. He heaved a sigh before replying.

"Fine, fine, _fine_." Having received a satisfactory answer, Alcedes immediately broke into a smile.

"Tee hee," she laughed. Then, lowering her voice into a mischievous, singsong tone, she pointed at a small locker in the corner, and remarked, "by the way, I think he's in there..."

"What? You little… ugh," The soldier growled and shook his head in regaining his composure, he turned to the small locker, and reached out with a rough hand to turn the handle.

"Aah!"

A high-pitched scream, almost more gut-wrenching than a screech from the alien forces, tore through the room. For a good moment, Triton was stunned at the vocal attack. He immediately reacted by forcing his large hands over the mouth of the perpetrator: Dr. Marion Julius.

He was a fairly tall and skinny man wearing a stained white lab coat and an abnormally large pair of glasses. Bushy hair and a beardless face made him look slightly younger than Triton.

"Calm down!" Alcedes suddenly yelled at the scientist. Slowly, Triton lifted his hand from the man's mouth.

"Relax, doc."

"Oh jeez!" The scientist took some deep breaths. "I thought it was those monstrous freaks for a second."

"Well, we might have made that mistake ourselves, with your infernal screaming," Triton replied. "So, doc, had enough of wetting your pants?"

"Very funny," Julius grumbled.

"Alright, it's good that you're alive, but we need to get going. We don't have a whole lot of time if we're to finish our grocery list."

"Eh?" The doctor raised his voice. "Um, you mean we're not getting out of here right now?"

"Not yet."

"Gah!" Julius almost jumped out of his skin as a small beaker, unbalanced from the previous tremors, fell from the table and broke on the ground. "This place is going to fall apart with that thing running around!"

"Doc, rescuing you was not our primary objective," Triton stated bluntly. "You're lucky we had to take a quick detour."

"Are you serious?"

"You're free to leave this place alone on your own at any time..." The scientist rubbed his aching back thoughtfully.

"I'll pass on that." Julius sighed. "Anyways, thank you, uhh…"

"Triton," the soldier introduced himself. "And the girl over there has a great codename, too: Annoying Brat."

"Hey!" Alcedes jumped up and down, irritated. "I have a name! It's Alcedes!"

"Whatever," Triton smirked. "We should head back right now." Julius looked at Alcedes.

"He doesn't have a lot of friends, does he?" Alcedes wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Triton, who was conveniently turning toward the door.

"Hmph, who'd want to be friends with a meanie like him?"

"Let's roll!" Ignoring their chatter, Triton quickly stepped out of the room, personal weapon at the ready.

Following the soldier, Alcedes began to chat with the Aquatan scientist.

"So, what were you doing here?"

"I worked with experimental weapons research," Julius explained. "After this war began, my job turned into testing and creating prototype weapons for the United Federation Army."

"Anything cool you were working on?" The scientist feigned a hurt look.

"Well, there's a few," Julius continued, "like a new weapons module for gearframe-sized rifles. "The point was to just have a universal ammunition clip you could attach to any of the Federation's standard-caliber rifles, and let those gearframes have immediate access to special types of bullets and projectiles." The scientist sighed. "Much more efficient and cost-effective than creating a ton of different weapons that take time to produce and properly train troops for. But, I have a bad feeling that our prototypes on this base were lost in the initial attack. Plus..." At the hint of an additional worry clouding his mind, Alcedes looked over at him with concern. _He's been through a lot, even for a chief engineer…_

Julius paused and slammed a clenched hand against a nearby bulkhead as they passed through.

"Gah, my team and I just needed a few more hours! If it wasn't for that alien monster!"

" 'Few more hours?' "

"Well, the aliens are equipped with an armor plating of unknown metal that's been resistant to many of our standard weapons. So, in addition to the universal ammunition cartridge my team was working on, I was devising a plasma weapon that could just melt through them! But alas, that thing came along and wrecked everything before I could get it finalized…"

Triton spoke up suddenly. "Y'know, Doc, it sounds like that plasma weapon would have been useful to have right now..."

"Well, actually, the prototype is complete," Julius clarified. "It's just that I could've sent the design out for mass production if we only had been given those extra hours…"

"Hmmm." The gears were turning in Triton's head. "Might be worth our time to retrieve this plasma rifle..." The captain then abruptly changed topics. "Anyways, Doc, you happen to know anything about a data disk containing information about some kind of ancient artifacts?"

"Artifacts? Umm, well… there were several government officials down here about a week ago who were talking about something like that. They didn't tell us much about it…"

"Happen to know where it might be?"

"Not a clue."

"Well, you're useless."

"Hey!" the scientist grumbled.

"But you must know where those officials were residing while they were here, right?" Alcedes asked.

"Of course. They were in the private executive-level guest quarters, between here and the purgatorium. Oh, that's, uh-" Alcedes held up a hand, indicating she already understood the Aquatan military term.

"Alright," Triton grunted. "I guess that's where we head to next."

Dr. Marion Julius and Alcedes continued to chat quietly as they followed Triton, with the two pilots cautiously taking note of their surroundings as they traversed through the eerily quiet structure. The conversation topic ranged from simple background information to intricate discussions of technology and machinery, none of which Triton could understand. Although the soldier tried to ignore the chatter as a whole, he couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"… So that's the new direction they need to develop the COGs!" Alcedes finished excitedly.

"Ah, that's amazing! You're a rather brilliant girl, aren't you?" The scientist pat her shoulder. She beamed.

"Mmhmm!"

"Alright, that's enough talk," Triton's growl cut off their conversation as they arrived back to their parked gearframes. "Hop in, Doc."

"Wait, can't he ride with me?" Alcedes pleaded.

"If I let you two ride together, this chit chat is never going to stop."

"What?" The girl was clearly dissatisfied with Triton's reasoning.

"It's alright," Julius chuckled. "We can talk a little more once we get out of this place."

"Oh alright…"

Sitting behind Triton, the scientist kept his eyes on Alcedes as the girl entered her own red machine.

"Shame," Julius sighed. "She's such a brilliant young mind. I wish I could've talked with her a little longer."

"Well, none of that's going to be of use if she can't learn some discipline," Triton stated flatly. "At the end of the day, she's a soldier, and a soldier needs to be focused solely on the mission."

"... I'm surprised."

"Hmm?"

"I didn't think you'd care much about her being such a good soldier, given she's a Fieran."

"Feh. I'm just thinking of the mission, Doc. If she falls behind, we all become jeopardized." The Aquatan scientist chuckled in response, unconvinced.

"Heh, I dunno. Are you certain you don't have some sort of soft spot for her, or something?"

"That's enough talk, Doc. Any more pointless remarks, and I'll be throwing you out to swim with the phantom fish, got that?" Julius backed off.

"Alright, alright…"

"Now, about the executive guest quarters, where the officials had stayed..."

"They worked close to the purgatorium most of the time," the scientist answered. "I'm sure anything that had relevance to them would be there."

"Alright. How do we get there from here?"

"From here, it will be 5,920 feet to the east, on the left hand side." The grisly soldier cracked a slight smile.

"I'm impressed. That's a pretty accurate number." The corners of Julius' mouth twitched upward, as the scientist permitted himself a moment of pride for his accomplishment.

"Well, I did help design most of this place." Upon hearing this, Triton remembered another question he had. It was less pertinent than his first question, but potentially just as significant.

"Do you happen to know how that massive creature simply clawed its way through Proteus? Our military bases are reinforced, and a secret base like Proteus would have been doubly protected. Julius rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, that thing caught everyone by surprise. You might know better than I do, but I think all of the alien enemies we had encountered so far were no bigger than our COGs. I suppose we were naive to assume that we would not find anything that was bigger.

"Hmm…" Triton paused to think for a moment. "Another question bugs me, Doc: Why is it that a lot of these alien creatures look similar to the native species of our own? Just a coincidence?"

"No, not at all. They've somehow been able to somewhat adopt the features and characteristics of our native organisms."

"How can they do it so quickly? Sure, it's been awhile since they've invaded, but they couldn't possibly have had the time to evolve that quickly, right?. Are all of them shapeshifters, or something?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to tell you," Julius sighed. "On the contrary to what we know from even rapid-scale evolutionary biology, they've have somehow sped up the adaptation process exponentially." Triton frowned.

"I wonder… if this isn't some Fieran conspiracy…"

"Ha ha, we've all thought so at one point, but no," the scientist responded. "I know they're capable of incredible things, but not even their most advanced technology is capable of something like this. At least, not from what I know."

"Well, they're pretty good at concealing information from us and Zikar. Who knows?"

"If that was the case, then they certainly goofed on this experiment! "In any case, that particular thing is uniquely foreign to our wildlife, and seems pretty unadjusted to our planet in general."

"Is that so?"

"For instance, despite its large eye, it suffers from poor vision when there is no adequate light source nearby. Maybe the smaller aliens were somehow rapidly evolved from specimens captured from our oceans, but this giant creature was probably transported and dropped here somehow…"

"That's interesting." Triton didn't bother to mention that he was reminded of how he, Alcedes and Panthera were brought down to Aquata via hypersonic rocket.

"Also, it feeds on more than just organic matter. It ate the metal right from our outer walls! I mean, what use would it have for such things in the first place?"

"Hmm, so it must be sticking around to feast on it… once it digests the previous contents."

"It's been close to 20 hours since it consumed a third of the entire base. With its mass, I can't imagine its next meal is that far off!" Julius hopped a little from his seat. "Triton! We need to get out of here before it devours the rest of the base, and us along with it!" Triton continued piloting the white gearframe forward as he replied, his voice impassive.

"No can do, Doc."

"Ehh?!"

"General Osiris has asked us to restore power to Proteus' nova core, to surface it for salvaging. We can't quite do that if we just escape, can we?"

"What?! You mean to fight that colossal monster? Is the General sending in reinforcements or something?" Triton grinned, like a hyena coming upon freshly killed meat.

"I'm the only reinforcements he needs." Julius' eyes widened in horror.

"_You're insane!_ Oh," he moaned, "I should've just stayed in the locker and waited for a proper rescue!" Triton smiled morbidly.

"Too late for that, Doc."

"I really hope that's just a joke…" The grizzled soldier turned his attention away from the scientist as he arrived at his destination.

"Anyways, we're finally here."

Triton and the crew had arrived at one of the safe rooms in this section, but as far as they could tell, there was no longer safe about this place. The heavy doors were filled with holes, and security gearframes lay on the ground, torn to pieces by the alien invaders. The floodwater covering the floor had turned red, stained with the blood of slaughtered crew who had attempted to take refuge here.

"Ugh…" Alcedes' stomach slightly churned at the grotesque sight of the massacre. Dead bodies floated around, slowly bumping into one another as the water flowed through the area. It was pretty apparent that there were no survivors here.

"Alright, Doc, do you know if there's a network access point nearby?" Triton asked Julius.

"Of course. I'm sure there were at least one or two inside the rooms."

"Hmm." Triton fastened his gearframe's hands to the edges of the damaged doors and tried to pry them open, but could not open enough to fit his machine through. After a few more attempts Panthera quietly messaged the captain.

[My gearframe would fit in there.]

Triton didn't miss a beat. His white gearframe stepped back. "Alright, then go retrieve that data disk for us."

[Roger.]

Panthera's feline-shaped machine slipped easily through the opening and into the safe room. Piles of corpses crowded the flooded chambers, and made it difficult to see far, but the agent was hardly fazed by the sight. Finding a large computer amongst the mess, Panthera dismounted and stood before the network computer.

"What do you see, Panthera?" Triton spoke over the comm system. "Give us a visual."

Panthera switched to the helmet camera, giving Triton and Julius a view of the room. Although blurry, the scientist could see enough of the controls to give instructions to the agent.

"It's still in decent condition," Julius spoke. "Restart the computer. We should still be able to access the logs in the memory drives."

Panthera silently complied. The computer slowly lit up as it rebooted. Checking the memory drives, Panthera's thin, cybernetic fingers blurred around the keyboard, as the screen scrolled through several pages of log entries for Julius to see.

"The file third from the top should be the one. It's one of the most recent, about 20 hours ago. I guess the network blacked out before they could finish uploading the whole thing." The scientist sighed. "Anyways, just in case, open the file so I can confirm it's the right one. Then bring it back to us."

[Understood.]

When Panthera clicked the file, the computer hummed and issued forth a series of holographic images, displaying the data. Included were images of the Alpha-1 Solar System, its three planets, and hundreds of other pictures, all flashing in and out within seconds of one another. Whatever this data disk was, it contained an unexpectedly vast amount of information. In the midst of the streams of visual and textual data, Triton thought he saw an image of a peculiar-looking machine. The image quality was blurred, but he could tell that it did not resemble any style of machine from Aquata, or even the other two worlds. Something about this machine was different. Perhaps it was its interesting, intricate shape - a form that looked both elegant and functional, almost regal - or the peculiar feeling it gave him, like witnessing something both ordinary and indescribable at the same time. A small chill ran down his spine and his hands felt slightly clammy as he just _knew_ that this was was something not created by any of the three planets.

_What is that?_

Just then, the visual feed blacked out. Systems indicated that it had happened from Panthera's end. Like abruptly snapping on the lights in a dark room, Julius jolted back and blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"Panthera, what's going on?" Triton raised his voice slightly, instinctively trying to speak more clearly into the comm system. "We lost visual on your end." After a few seconds, the agent messaged back.

[Minor error. The helmet camera is malfunctioning.]

"Oh jeez," Julius sighed in relief. "I thought the aliens had gotten you there!"

[There is quite a bit of data here. This may take a while.]

"Come back to us as soon as it's done," Triton ordered. He thought Panthera paused just a microsecond longer than had become normal, but dismissed the thought as the silent response came.

[Roger.]

Slightly disappointed at the interruption to their video feed, Triton leaned back into his seat, settling his chin on his clasped hands in the harsh yellow-orange glint of the interior cabin lights. A single bead of sweat trickled slowly down the side of his face, ignored by the brooding man. He coldn't take his mind off the image of that machine.

Meanwhile, Alcedes had remained still while the other two were busy extracting the data disk. Her eyes lazily swung left and right, following the sight of drifting dead bodies from the monitor of her machine. She stared at them for a while, letting her mind go. The sight was never comfortable for her, even after some of her experiences in the interplanetary civil war that had been raging before these alien invaders came, but she had learned to force herself to stay relaxed.

"Hey." Triton's voice rang in through the comm. "Falling asleep over there?"

"N-No." Alcedes quickly shook her head.

"Seems like we found what we came for. We'll be moving out as soon as Panthera's done recovering the disk." The news fell on grateful ears.

"Alright," she replied, as she thumbed a nearby control. A small exterior compartment on the red gearframe opened, and out flew several tiny scanner drones. She thought she'd make herself at least a bit more useful by scouting the area for any enemy forces. Although there seemed to be very few remaining in the underwater base, they were still present, and could turn up at any moment. There was no need to be reckless.

The small drones lowered themselves into the water, and roamed about the murky depths, swimming past the dead bodies, avoiding the debris floating in the area. To the drones, all the corpses seemed unimportant, not even worth a cursory bioscanner sweep. After a while, the drones gave their report.

_Functioning C-class weaponry detected. Sensing high concentrations of plasma energy. Dangerous. Caution strongly advised._

Alcedes' attention snapped quickly to one of her drones. "Hmm?" Reaching out to one of the fallen Aquatan military COGs with her own machine's lower two arms, she picked up a peculiar-looking weapon different from the standard vulcan rifles used by the Aquatan military - at least, the units she was familiar with. "Huh… what's this?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Looking from Triton's monitor, Julius jumped with excitement, immediately recognizing the item held by Alcedes' gearframe. He instinctively rubbed his head where he had bumped it, undistracted.

"That's it! That's my prototype plasma rifle! Those darned government officials! They snatched up MY prototype for their own bodyguards!"

"Let me see." Triton moved his gearframe to Alcedes, and took the weapon into his own hands. Swinging the barrel of the rifle slowly from side to side, the soldier examined it thoroughly. "Seems like it's in good shape, Doc. In fact, it looks hardly touched at all." Julius sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Those morons... There's a unique two-stage safety lock on it because it's so dangerous, but I bet they never bothered to properly disengage it before they tried to use it."

"Well, good thing we know," Triton smiled. "This'll be handy against that beast."

"U-Um…" The scientist started to panic again at the soldier's remark. "Please tell me that last part's a joke…"

After a while, Panthera messaged them through the comm.

[Primary objective complete.]

"Took you long enough," Triton grunted.

Panthera coolly ignored him, climbing back into the quadruped machine. Behind Triton, Julius' hands perched on the edge of his command seat, trembling nervously.

"Okay, can we _please _just get out of this god-forsaken-" Before he could finish, a warning alarm and flashing red light activated on their onboard consoles. Alcedes' scanner drones were back near where she had found the downed Aquatan COG with the scientist's plasma rifle. A split second later, their computers warned them:

_Red alert! Red alert! Alien mechanized lifeforms entering the area. Presumed hostile."_

From the darkness, the group suddenly saw them: Swarms of metallic, jellyfish-shaped creatures pulsing through the water as they rapidly descended upon the unit. Armed with long tentacles charged with deadly energy, they tried to land on the three machines in droves.

"Just in time," Triton bit into a fresh cigar as he went on the offensive, sliding his gearframe backwards using its leg-mounted booster rockets. He drew his vulcan blaster and fired a volley of armor-piercing projectiles upward. Aided by his battle-computer, his shots were right on target, hitting many of the aliens at their soft spot between their tentacles. They disappeared in small explosions of orange and yellow light, their energy discharging prematurely.

Alcedes and Panthera also moved quickly into action. The red lobster-like gearframe pulled out its dark-colored shockwave staff. The two antennae-like protrusions on the tip of the COG's head hummed as they vibrated slightly, resonating with the central control orb of the staff. Piercing sonic waves shot out from the staff, rippling through the air as they sliced the invading creatures into pieces. Meanwhile, Panthera had dashed up a side wall, rapidly closing the vertical distance. When the floating alien creatures extended their tentacles to attack, the feline-shaped COG dodged with quick sidesteps, and, leaping from the wall with a powerful thrust of its hind legs, drove its razor-sharp, reinforced steel fangs and claws into the enemies, crushing their metallic, shelled bodies and utterly destroying the aliens in mid-air. As Panthera landed with only a soft thud, aided by its small rocket jets, pieces of the alien creatures gently rained down around them, nothing but a subtle hint of what had come from above.

In the blink of an eye, the swarm of alien forces had evaporated.

"Heh, I guess the General wasn't lying about these COGs," Triton smiled. "They're pretty good."

"Oh jeez, that was close!" Julius became a little calmer, but was clearly still panic-stricken. "Please, let's get out of here!"

A familiar, monstrous roar rang throughout the base. The ground began to quake, and the entire area seemed to churn side ways.

"I think it's hungry again," Triton noted.

"Ahh!" Julius tightly gripped his legs, going into fetal position.

"Alcedes," the soldier spoke to the girl. "Can you track that creature's location?"

"It's about two thousand feet due north."

"That's right next to the power room. Shoot," Triton grumbled. "We need to reach the nova core and activate it now, otherwise that thing might devour it."

[Let's hurry]

"Lead the way, Panthera."

Following the swift Zikarian machine, the team reached the very heart of Proteus: the power room. This was the tallest and the most open area of the base, easily the size of a sports stadium. At the center was the nova core, a complex machine capable of generating the massive energy required to operate the entire facility. It was an extremely valuable piece of technology that the United Alpha-1 Federation needed to recover.

"What's the condition of the nova core?" Triton asked.

"It's still in good shape; no damage so far," Alcedes answered. "We just need to jump start the power to make the base operational."

"Do it."

On Triton's command, Alcedes quickly moved her COG to the reactor and manually restarted the system. The colossal reactor began to tremble, illuminating the area as it restored life to the base. The pilots could feel the entire facility slowly rising from the ocean floor.

Suddenly, with a deafening, thunderous crack, the walls of the power room burst open with a loud screech of metal grinding on metal. The colossal alien creature emerged, extending its digging claws through the reinforced steel and pulling its utterly massive body into the cavernous chamber. Whether it was the light, or the movement of the base from the reactor, the monster excitedly opened its toothy mouth and hunched over downward, beginning to chew through the floor. Its enormous, frightening single eye darted frantically left and right, until it came to rest on the three COGs standing before it, miniscule in comparison.

"Ahh! It's looking right at us!" Julius screamed.

"Alright, you bastard," Triton swore, already bringing his weapon to bear, "you're not ignoring us this time!"

"Ooohh..." The scientist had fainted, his unconscious body falling backwards onto the cramped floorspace behind Triton's seat.

"... Ugh..." In horrified fascination, Alcedes swallowed hard as she slowly stared back at the giant creature.

"Scared?" Triton asked, smirking. The soldier's hands were shaking a little as well, but he would have swore it was from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"A little," came the quiet reply.

"Well, hear this." Triton cleared his throat. "I already know how to beat that thing, and we'll be sending it back to the hellhole it came from!"

"... Ha, ha, ha…" the girl gently laughed at her partner's confidence.

[Please do enlighten us with your plan of attack, Captain.]

"Its claws are designed to rip through the reinforced steel, so dodge them at all cost," Triton explained. "Aim for its eye. Our standard weapons are capable of affecting that soft flesh!"

As soon as the soldier had finished his words, the creature swung one of its forearms at the three pilots. All three of them dove aside in different directions, dodging the attack. Pulling out his rifle, Triton rained bullets towards the eye, but the monster swiftly responded, tilting its massive head to evade the volley of weapons fire.

"Tsk." the soldier quickly repositioned himself as the monstrous arms flailed outward towards him again. Although it would prove impossible to avoid its claws and limbs in a more confined space, the size of the power room was large enough for the COGs to swim around with ease.

After some time, the creature's attacks had not abated, and Triton saw that, it was futile to damage it without coming up with a different solution. "Well, I guess it's time to use that weapon of yours, Doc." Pulling out the plasma rifle, Triton triggered the safety disarmament sequence, and fired. A bright flash of sizzling blue energy lanced out from the tip of the barrel, blasting the creature on its claws. The extreme heat of the plasma disintegrated the hardened plating, searing bubbling scars across the limb. The monster howled in pain, but wasn't significantly affected; in fact, the pain made it thrash around harder.

"The reactor!" Alcedes yelled suddenly.

Using her quick fingers, Alcedes immediately browsed through the different tools of her COG. Raising her shockwave staff towards the creature, the machine fired a small black cannonball that exploded into a smokescreen. The clouds soaked into the monster's limbs and froze it for a good second.

"Wait what?" Triton was amazed at the sudden pause in the beast's movements. "Little girl, what was-"

But before Triton could finish his sentence, the creature shook its body, and freed itself from the stun effects of Alcedes' special weapon. It roared in anger and swung its arms even more violently, but before the creature's frenzied movements could reach Triton or Alcedes, Panthera's COG lept onto the monster and drove its fangs right into its head. The monster jerked backwards, moving away from the reactor.

"Little girl, what was that?" Triton was still stunned by the interesting display of weapon from the red gearframe. _That gearframe was designed by my homeworld, but I've never seen this kind of weapon before… _

"Apparently it's an experimental weapon known as DARK FORCE," she answered. "It was listed on my startup screens when I first did the synch-tests with this machine. It's... supposed to stun organic creatures."

"_What? _Why didn't you tell me you had something like that in your arsenal before?"

"You didn't ask!"

"Whatever…" Triton growled and took a deep breath to calm down. "I need a clean shot." He carefully aimed his rifle at the creature once more. "Think you can use that weapon again?"

"It needs to recharge, so it'll be less effective if I fire it again right now," the girl replied. "I doubt it'll stop it for longer than half a second."

"That's all the time I need!"

Complying, Alcedes moved her COG towards Arms while Panthera was still latched onto its head. The claws of the feline-shaped COG were strong enough to dig through the monster's plating, but it didn't seem like it would've been able to hold on much longer with its crazed thrashing. Alcedes took a deep breath.

_I can do this. _

Concentrating, she pointed her staff towards the monster for an opportune moment. When Panthera's fangs dug into the monster's head once more, the creature raised its arms, leaving its eye exposed with a clear line of sight.

_Now!_

The strange orb-like objects on the gearframe's body glowed brightly again, and the black cannonball-shaped mass of dense energy launched from her staff. For a split second, the arms of the creature hardened, and became immobile.

"Gotcha!" Triton didn't hesitate in pulling the trigger. The plasma launched and burned a path through the air like lightning, heading straight for the giant green eye of the beast. Unable to move its large arms to shield itself, its eye took a direct hit. Green ooze gushed all over the room at high pressure as the colossal monster shuddered violently, slowly but surely dying. Its movements became more and more subdued as it transformed before their eyes into nothing more than a giant gray husk, devoid of life. Its heavy arms had dropped to the floor, along with its body. Parts of its biomechanical body, containing chemicals and energies not meant to be let loose, began to mix. As its internal pressure and bodily fluids became unstable, parts of its body began to explode, shaking the entire base with tremors. Its hold on the elevating station loosened, and Proteus was able to slowly rise through the ocean as the creature's body slipped out of the chamber through the hole it had created, and crashed slowly onto the solid water bottom of the sea, breaking apart like a stone statue in slow motion.

"Eww…" Alcedes pouted with disgust at the sight of the monster's bright internal fluids and melted innards coating the power room, jiggling with every rumble as Proteus ascended to the surface

"Hah," Triton smiled. "Piece of cake."


End file.
